Knapp on Raiders: Palmer deal is Hue Jackson’s homage to Al Davis

Al Davis would love this. The late Raiders owner believed in big risks, and his protégé head coach is walking on coals to bring Carson Palmer to Oakland.

Actually, the entire franchise will be walking on coals for the next several years because of this deal. Possibly two first-round draft picks for a quarterback who hasn’t practiced in almost 10 months and whose work had declined in recent years?

But Raiders coach Hue Jackson worked with Palmer early in his pro career, when Jackson served as Cincinnati’s receivers coach. He must know something that makes him believe that he can get enough out of Palmer to make this deal worthwhile.

But that’s an uncertainty, like the yield on those draft picks. Jackson was confronting a sure thing: Oakland’s losing culture has to go, and it has to go now. The face of the franchise died 10 days ago. Nobody wants to honor Davis’s memory more than Jackson, so he had to do everything he could to prevent a 4-2 start from fizzling after Jason Campbell’s season-ending injury.

Common sense and caution took a seat. Jackson, in his first big play as the Raiders’ de facto general manager, threw deep into triple coverage. Of all the moving tributes to Davis, none came close to this one.